Cleveland Museum of Art

Spouted Pitcher

Date

300–600 CE

Medium

silver

Culture

Byzantium, Syria(?), Byzantine period

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

A large quantity of tableware survives from the Roman Empire, including this piece from Antioch and the Eastern Mediterranean. Most of the recovered groups of silver seem to have been hoards concealed during times of trouble. A complete table service, called a ministerium in Latin and a synthesis in Greek, consisted of silver for eating and drinking: trays, platters, plates, dishes, spoons, pepper dispensers, goblets, pitchers, ladles, and bowls. The god of wine, Dionysos, was frequently depicted on drinking and eating vessels.

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